The Market Report

Whole Foods Market Opened: 2004 Owner:  Amazon Previous Tenants:  Star Market (ca. 1960s-ca. 1990s) > Johnnie's Foodmaster (2000-2004) Cooperative:  none Location:  331 Paradise Rd, Swampscott, MA Photographed:  January 10, 2025 Yes yes, I know I promised you better pictures and then hit you with the nighttime drive-bys here and in Lynnfield . But it only gets better from here! That said, this Swampscott Whole Foods is an interesting store for sure. It was built in the 1960s by Star Market, which operated here until approximately the 1990s (though I can't find a solid opening or closing date). By 1999, local chain Johnnie's Foodmaster was preparing to move in, and they opened in 2000. Whole Foods acquired several of their locations when they went under in 2012, but they actually took over this 36,500 square foot store back in 2004. Johnnie's closed in the early spring and Whole Foods was up and running over the summer. If you want to see what the store's e...

Whole Foods Market Opened: 2013 Owner:  Amazon Previous Tenants:  Stop & Shop (1950s) > Johnnie's Foodmaster (open by 1962, closed 2012) Cooperative:  none Location:  45 Beacon St, Cambridge, MA Photographed:  February 22, 2020 One look at this Whole Foods near Inman Square can tell you it's been a supermarket for a long time. A bit of research can confirm that: it was built in the 1950s as a Stop & Shop, becoming a Johnnie's Foodmaster no later than 1962. Johnnie's closed in 2012, and several of their stores were acquired by Whole Foods . At around 15,000 square feet, this store is small for Whole Foods, but not nearly as small as that Brookline location. Yelp has a few pictures of this store as Johnnie's, including the carpeted flooring that Massachusetts supermarkets seemed to love . Like Brookline, this store got a bright-red floor when Whole Foods opened up and renovated the space. Produce is in the first aisle on the right side, with dairy at...

H Mart Opened: August 2023 Owner:  Il Yeon Kwon Previous Tenants:  Beacon Supermarket (1952 - mid-1990s) >  Johnnie's Fresh Market (closed 2013) > Whole Foods Market (2013-2022) Cooperative:  none Location:  1028 Beacon St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  August 25, 2025 H Mart is no stranger to small stores. Their original location, in Woodside, Queens, NY, is only around 6500 square feet. But this tiny Brookline storefront, which they opened in the summer of 2023, is even smaller at just 5500 square feet. It was one of the smallest Whole Foods stores, and is now one of the smallest H Mart stores. Take a look around the Whole Foods here ! H Mart has changed the arrangement of the aisles to run side-to-side across the store instead of front to back, as Whole Foods' were. They've also eliminated the rear entrance and exit. You now enter in the front and turn right to go into the produce department, which continues along the right-side wall of the st...

Whole Foods Market Open: 2013-2022 Owner:  Amazon Previous Tenants: Beacon Supermarket (1952 - mid-1990s) >  Johnnie's Fresh Market (closed 2013) Later Tenants:  H Mart (August 2023- ) Cooperative:  none Location:  1028 Beacon St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  June 2, 2019 When local chain Johnnie's Foodmaster went out of business in 2012, Whole Foods acquired six of their ten stores. One, we saw not too long ago over in Charlestown , but the rest are in Boston suburbs I either haven't photographed or haven't posted yet. Here in Brookline, a longtime supermarket remains a grocer today even though it's changed ownership a few times. The earliest grocer I can locate at this spot was the Beacon Supermarket, which opened in 1952 and was in business at least through the mid-1990s. At some point thereafter, it became a Johnnie's Fresh Market (presumably a reference to the smaller size of this store, compared to the larger Foodmaster locations). It held t...